St Luke Chapter I : Verses 26-33
Contents
- Luke i. 26-33. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text & Latin text (Vulgate).
- Annotations
- Douay-Rheims : 1582 text & notes
Luke i. 26-33.
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| Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
In mense autem sexto, missus est angelus Gabriel a Deo in civitatem Galilææ, cui nomen Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
ad virginem desponsatam viro, cui nomen erat Joseph, de domo David : et nomen virginis Maria.
28 And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
Et ingressus angelus ad eam dixit : Ave gratia plena : Dominus tecum : benedicta tu in mulieribus.
29 Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be.
Quæ cum audisset, turbata est in sermone ejus, et cogitabat qualis esset ista salutatio.
30 And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.
Et ait angelus ei : Ne timeas, Maria : invenisti enim gratiam apud Deum.
31 Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus.
Ecce concipies in utero, et paries filium, et vocabis nomen ejus Jesum :
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever.
hic erit magnus, et Filius Altissimi vocabitur, et dabit illi Dominus Deus sedem David patris ejus : et regnabit in domo Jacob in æternum,
33 And of his kingdom there shall be no end.
et regni ejus non erit finis.
Annotations
26. In the sixth month. That is the sixth month from the conception of John. Christ was therefore six months younger than John the Baptist. We ought to understand that this sixth month was not beginning but ending, or rather ended; for from the 24th of September, when John was conceived, to the 25th of March, when Christ was conceived, there are six whole months. The Annunciation therefore by Gabriel, and consequently the Incarnation of the Word, took place on the 25th of March; on which day likewise, Christ, after completing the thirty-fourth year of His life, was crucified. Many are of opinion that the world was created on the same day; so that it was created by God on the same day on which it was afterwards recreated and restored by Christ in His Incarnation and Cross. Whence it is that from this day of March, the English, the Venetians, the Pisans, and several other nations reckon the years after Christ.
the Angel Gabriel. S. Jerome remarks on Daniel viii. that there are three angels, Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel, who are especially mentioned in Scripture; of whom Michael presides over the prayers and offerings of the faithful, and is therefore called Michael (that is, who is like God); for it is the prerogative of God alone to hear the prayers of penitents: while Raphael presides over the healing of men’s bodies, and he therefore restored sight to Tobias when he was blind; whence he is called Raphael (that is the Healer or the Healing of God); and thirdly Gabriel (or the strength of God) presides over the conflicts and wars of the faithful (as is clear from Dan. xii. &c.) Wherefore he is sent to announce the birth of Christ, who was to carry on a most severe war against Lucifer, and the rest of the demons and impious men. Again Gabriel in Hebrew means man of God; the meaning of which is that God will be incarnate, and will be a child as to nature and age; but yet He will also be a man, because from the first instant of His conception His soul will be full of all knowledge, grace, and strength, according to the saying of Jer. xxxi. 22, a woman shall compass a man. Again, Toletus, following Basil, Dionysius, and others, is of opinion that Michael was one of the principalities, which S. Dionysius places as the first order of the third hierarchy of angels, but that Gabriel was of the order of archangels; but it is more probable that Michael was of the order of the seraphim, and that Gabriel was next to him.
Nazareth. Whence Christ was called a Nazarene, being, as it were, the country in which he was conceived. The Blessed Virgin therefore dwelt there with Joseph, to whom she was betrothed. The house or chamber in which she conceived Christ was consecrated by S. James and the other Apostles as a church. After three hundred years S. Helen built a temple there. Also S. Paula, S. Louis, and other travellers visited it. After a thousand years it was translated by angels from Nazareth to Dalmatia and thence to Italy, to Loretto, where it even now stands, and is visited by pilgrims from the whole world; so that Erasmus [1466-1536] himself thus addresses the Virgin of Loretto,
“Hail to thee, O noble offspring of kings, the beauty of priests, the glory of patriarchs, the triumph of the heavenly hosts, the terror of hell, the hope and solace of Christians; thou art next to the Divine nature; do not, we pray thee, be wanting to us; I prostrate myself at thy feet, preserve my poor soul, I beseech thee.”
[Ed. The etymology of Nazara is neser, which means "a shoot". The Vulgate renders this word by flos, "flower", in the Prophecy of Isaias (xi.1), which is applied to the Saviour. St. Jerome (Epist., xlvi, "Ad Marcellam") gives the same interpretation to the name of the town.]
27. To a Virgin espoused to a man, &c. Espoused, not by betrothal only but by matrimony already contracted, although not actually consummated, see Matt. i.18. S. Gregory Thaumasius (Serm. 3 de Annun.) says,
“Gabriel is sent to prepare a chamber worthy of the most pure Bridegroom; he is sent to contract espousals between the creature and the Creator.”
Also S. Bernard (Serm. 1 de Assump.) well says,
“There is no place in the world of greater dignity than the temple of the virginal womb in which Mary conceived the Son of God, nor in heaven is there any place of higher dignity than the royal throne on which her Son has exalted Mary.”
And in Serm. 4,
“What angelic purity even may we venture to compare with that virginity, which was worthy of becoming the shrine of the Holy Spirit, and the abode of the Son of God.”
Mary. In Hebrew Miriam, that is, Mar Yam, myrrh, or bitterness of the sea; for the Hebrews have a tradition that the sister of Moses was called Miriam, because when she was born the bitter tyranny of Pharaoh in drowning the Hebrew children began [see Exodus i. 15-22]. But, by the Divine will, the name was afterwards changed to a different meaning, for after the Red Sea had been crossed and Pharaoh had been drowned, she was called Mariam (Mara Yam), that is mistress of the sea; for as Moses was the leader of the men, so Miriam was the leader of the women in the passage of the Red Sea. Moreover she was a type, says S. Ambrose, of the Blessed Virgin, who is called Mary, that is the Mistress and Lady of the sea of this world, that she may lead us through it in safety to the promised land, that is heaven. S. Isidore (vii. Etym. cap. 10) says,
“Mary is by interpretation illuminator or star of the sea; for she brought forth the Light of the world. But in the Syrian language Mary is called Lady, because she brought forth the Lord.”
For this reason Mary was full of grace, and a sea of graces; for as all rivers run into the sea, so all graces which angels, patriarchs, apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins possessed, came together in her, as S. Bonaventura says. S. Bridget also shows in her Revelations, i. 9, how delightful the name of Mary is to the angels, and how terrible to demons.
And the angel being come in, said unto her: &c. He glided into the chamber of the Virgin as she was praying in secret for the advent of the Messiah and the salvation of men, either through the window or through the door. For angels, since they are most pure spirits, by means of their subtlety pass through all walls and bodies. Although Andrew, Bishop of Jerusalem, in a sermon on the Annunciation, thinks that the angel secretly opened the door and modestly saluted the Virgin.
Hail, Ave. It is very probable that the angel used the ordinary salutation of the Hebrews, שּׁלום לך, Peace be to thee. Unless the opinion of Serarius is to be preferred, that ave is the Hebrew חוה chave or have, that is, “Live;” so that there is an allusion to the name of Eve, which is in Hebrew חוה chava, that is the mother of all living (Gen. iii. 20), so that the meaning will be, Eve was not the mother of life but of death, because by sin she delivered over all her children to death, but thou, O Mary, art truly called Eve, because thou art the mother of life, grace, and glory. Hence in Latin ave is Eva reversed, because Mary turned the maledictions of Eve into blessings.
gratia plena, Vulgate, full of grace. Greek, κεχαριτωμένη, which Beza translates gratis dilecta, freely loved; for he thinks that the just have no inherent and intrinsic, but only an extrinsic righteousness, which consists in this, that, although they be sinners, God of his own good will holds and reckons them as just; which is heresy.
But κεχαριτωμένη answers to the Hebrew נחנה, filled with grace or made acceptable; for χαριτοω signifies I make acceptable, I render beloved or dear, I fill with grace. For God judges nothing to be acceptable except what is truly in itself acceptable; wherefore when He makes any one just and acceptable to Himself, He bestows upon him the gift of justice and inherent grace. Wherefore κεχαριτωμένη is the same as full of grace: as it is rendered in our version and the Syrian, &c.; also by S. Ambrose and others of the Fathers. This word therefore signifies.—
1. That the Blessed Virgin had a gift of grace bestowed upon her by God, and that, in a full measure of excellence beyond other just and holy persons, for this epithet is applied solely to the Blessed Virgin, to the end that she might be made worthy to become in time the Mother of God.
2. That she by means of this gift of grace was wonderfully well-pleasing in the sight of God and of all His angels, and in their eyes altogether lovely and beautiful, so that Christ chose her before all others for His mother.
You will say that Christ was more full of grace than the Blessed Virgin. Others also of the saints are said to have been full of the Holy Spirit, as Stephen.
I answer that they are said to have been full of grace, but in different ways. For, as Maldonatus rightly says, a fountain is full of water, so is a river, so are streams, although there is more water and purer in a fountain than in a river, and in a river than in streams. Christ is full of grace, like a fountain where grace gushes forth and is collected as in a reservoir, and from which it flows forth to all men, as from a head to the members. The mother of Christ is full like a river very near a fountain, which although it has less water than a fountain, yet flows with a full channel. Stephen is full like a stream.
S. Augustine (Serm xviii. de Sanctus) says,
“Mary is filled with grace, and Eve is made clear from guilt; the curse of Eve is changed into the blessing of Mary.”
Toletus (annotat. 67) shows that the Blessed Virgin was full of all grace, both in body and soul. For she was free from concupiscence (fomite concupiscentiæ), so that in her the flesh was subject to the reason and the spirit, as was the case with Adam in Paradise through original righteousness. Wherefore he adds that in her, nature conspired with grace and co-operated with it in every respect. See also what I have said concerning her in the Commentary on the Canticles, especially on those words (c. 4:7), Thou art all fair, my love, there is no spot in thee.
S. Jerome (Serm. de Assump. B. V.) says,
“It is well said that she was full of grace, because on others grace is bestowed partially (per partes), but the fulness of grace in complete treasure was infused into Mary.” And again, “The entire fulness of grace, which is in Christ, came upon Mary, although in a different way.”
Suarez shows that the grace possessed by the Blessed Virgin in the first instant of her conception was greater than the grace which the highest angel possesses, who by one or two acts has perfected all his merits, and therefore she merited more than thousands of men merit through their whole life. Wherefore the Blessed Virgin in this first instant loved and praised God with such earnestness of intention that she exceeded the love, and consequently also the merit, of the highest angel. But in the second instant of her co-operation and love, by means of the increase of grace which in the first instant she had merited and had in reality received, she doubled the degrees of love and consequently also of merit; and in the third instant, by doubling the same she quadrupled both merit and grace; and so in every instant, by doubling continually the grace she had received, until her death in the seventy-second year of her age, she had increased the degrees of grace and merit to such an extent that she altogether excelled in them all men and angels taken together. Wherefore she by herself alone is more acceptable to God than all the rest; and God loves the Blessed Virgin alone more than the whole Church, that is, more than all men and angels taken together. See also the Revelations of S. Bridget i. 10.
The Lord is with thee. The angel gives the reason why she was full of grace, that is, because the Lord was with her in a singular manner, so that He wrought in her the singular work of the Incarnation of the Word. S. Bernard (Serm. 3) says,
“What wonder is it that she was full of grace with whom the Lord was? But this rather is to be wondered at, how He who had sent the angel to the Virgin was found by the angel with the Virgin. Was God then swifter than the angel, so that He outstripped him and reached the earth before His swift messenger? Nor is it to be wondered at. For since the king was on His couch, the sweet ointment of the Virgin gave forth its odour, and the smoke of spices went up in the sight of His glory, and she found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
And further on he shows that God is in all creatures by power, in rational beings by knowledge, in the good by love, and therefore He is with them by concord of the will, for it is by means of this that they unite themselves to God. Then he adds,
“But since He is in this way with all the saints, yet He was in an especial manner with Mary, between whom and Himself there was such a consent that He joined not only her will, but her flesh to Himself, and of His own and the Virgin’s substance made one Christ; who although He is not wholely of God nor wholely of the Virgin, yet He is wholely God’s and wholely the Virgin’s, and not two sons, but the one son of both.” Then he shows that the whole Trinity was with the Blessed Virgin. “Not only is the Lord the Son with thee whom thou art clothing with thy flesh, but also the Lord the Spirit by Whom thou art conceiving, and the Lord the Father who begat Him whom thou art conceiving.”
S. Bridget (Revel. iii. 29), conversing with the Blessed Virgin, says,
“Thou art made like to the Temple of Solomon, in which the true Solomon moves, and He sits who has made peace between God and man. Blessed therefore art thou, O Blessed Virgin, in whom the great God became a little child, the eternal God and invisible Creator became a visible creature.”
The Blessed Virgin answers,
“Why do you compare me with Solomon and his Temple, since I am the mother of Him Who has neither beginning nor end, for the Son of God, Who is my Son, is Priest and King of kings. In short, in my Temple He clothed Himself spiritually with the priestly garments in which He offered sacrifice for the world.”
Further S. Thomas (Quæst. xxx. art. 4) expounds the words the Lord is with thee of the Conception and Incarnation of the Word, which was presently to take place, but which had not already taken place; as I shall show at verse 38.
Blessed art thou among women. The same was said of Jael and Judith, but it is said here of the Blessed Virgin in a far more excellent way, for she excelled Jael and Judith, and all virgins and matrons a thousand times in blessings, gifts, and graces. [Ed. See Crushing Satan's Head, by Fr James Mawdsley (2022]
S. Augustine (Serm. 18 de Sanctis) says,
“Blessed art thou among women, for thou hast brought forth life both for men and women The mother of our race brought punishment into the world; the Mother of our Lord brought salvation to the world. Eve was the originator of sin, Mary of merit.”
Peter Chrysologus (Serm. 145) says on these words,
“She was truly blessed, for she was greater than the heaven, stronger than the earth, wider than the world; she by herself alone contained God, whom the world contains not; she bore Him Who bears the world; she brought forth Him by Whom she had been begotten, she gives nourishment to the Nourisher of all things living.”
among women. That he might signify that whatever is most excellent in the threefold condition of women is found in the Blessed Virgin. For women are either virgins or widows, or living in matrimony. In virgins chastity is praised, but not barrenness; in widows liberty of mind is commended, but not solitude, for it is written (Eccles. iv.10) “Woe to him that is alone, for when he falleth he hath not one to lift him up.” In matrimony the education of offspring in what is good is highly esteemed, but not the loss of Virginity. The Blessed Virgin alone among all women possessed virginity without barrenness; liberty of mind without loss of companionship, since she was really espoused to Joseph; and what is a greater thing than these, fruitfulness in offspring without the violation of virgin chastity. And so she appropriated whatever is good in the threefold state of women, and whatever is evil she rejected. Whereupon deservedly the angel proclaims her Blessed above all women.
29. Who having heard, was troubled at his saying. First, at the unwonted appearance, brightness, and majesty of the angel. Secondly, at his unwonted salutation. S. Jerome (Epist. 7) says, “Let a woman imitate Mary, whom Gabriel found alone in her chamber, and therefore, perhaps, she was alarmed at beholding a man whom she was not accustomed to see.” Again S. Bernard (Serm. iii. on Missus Est) says, “She was troubled, but not alarmed; her being troubled was a mark of modesty; her not being alarmed of courage; while her keeping silence and meditating was a mark of prudence.”
what manner of salutation. That is, how noble and august, and exceeding the strength and merits of all men, and therefore even her own. For she, in the greatness of her humility, thought far different, yea, even contrary things of herself. For she thought within herself; I seem to myself to be in need of all grace, how then does the angel call me full of grace, I in my poverty live and associate with poor virgins, how then does the angel proclaim to me that the Lord is with me. I esteem myself the least and lowest of all women, how then does the angel say to me, Blessed art thou among women.
Again, the Blessed Virgin was meditating to what end she was so honourably saluted by the angel; for the salutation of the angel had reference to the mystery of the Incarnation which was to be accomplished in her. But since she knew not of this end, she meditated and wondered why she was so honourably saluted by the angel. However, she made no answer, because, as S. Ambrose says, “she did not return the salutation through modesty, nor did she make any answer;” because modesty and astonishment fully occupied her mind, and restrained her tongue.
Listen again to S. Ambrose, “Know the Virgin by her modesty: or she was afraid; as it follows, and when she heard she was troubled. It is the habit of virgins to tremble and to be afraid at the approach of a man, and to be bashful when he addresses her. Learn, O virgin, to avoid lightness in talking. Mary feared even the salutation of an angel.
30. And the angel said unto her, &c. The angel removes the fear, and then the rising shame of the Virgin, by the grace, that is, the favour and goodwill which he says she has found in the eyes of God above all women; first, because God chose her from all eternity above all others without merit, and of His free and gratuitous love to be His Mother, of whom he would take flesh: secondly, because as soon as she was conceived and born in time, He so adorned her with every virtue and grace that in His sight she appeared altogether pleasing and worthy to be loved by Him, and exalted above all. Thou hast therefore found favour with God on account of the virtues infused into thee by Him in a most excellent degree. The first is thy most profound humility: the second was thy angelic virginity. S. Basil, in his homily on the human generation of Christ, says, “Virginity is chosen, as being fit and next to sanctity.”
The third virtue was her most ardent charity, by which the Blessed Virgin, being desirous of the redemption of mankind and the Advent of the Messiah, used to pour forth unceasing and fervent prayers for both, and therefore she obtained both, and, further, merited herself to become the mother of the Messiah, not from grace of condignity but of congruity. So S. Bernard (Hom. 3 super Missus Est), “Thou hast found what thou wast seeking. Thou hast found what no one before thee was able to find. Thou hast found favour with God. What favour? Peace between God and man, the destruction of death, the restoration of life.” The Schoolmen everywhere teach that the Blessed Virgin merited to become the Mother of God. See Suarez. And some teach that she merited of congruity not of condignity to become the Mother of God, yet that she did not merit the Incarnation of the Word; for this is antecedent to all merit, and is the cause and origin of it.
31. Behold, thou shalt conceive. The angel shows that Mary found favour with God because she is about to conceive and bring forth Jesus, that is, God and man. He alludes to and also quotes the prophecy, Isa. vii.14.
Hence then is refuted, first, the Manichæan, who says that Christ did not take real flesh of the Virgin, but only the appearance of flesh; for a son who is conceived in the womb and brought forth is a real son, and not one in appearance only: secondly, Valentinus, who teaches that Christ brought flesh from heaven, and merely passed through the Blessed Virgin, as water passes through a channel; thirdly, Nestorius, who asserts that the Blessed Virgin was not the Mother of God because she was not the Mother of the Divinity; to whom Cyril well replies that she is truly the Mother of God although she did not bring forth His Divinity, but His humanity only, because she brought forth the Man, namely Jesus, Who is truly God: as a father is truly called the father of his son, although he does not beget his soul, but only his flesh, because he begets a man who consists of soul and flesh.
32. He shall be great, &c. Great both as God and as man. And He shall be called the Son of the Highest; that is through the hypostatic union. He can and ought of right to be called the Son of God.
33. and He shall reign over the house of Jacob. That is, over the Church, as Bede and others say. This kingdom in David was a temporal one, but in Christ a spiritual and eternal one, because He reigns over His saints here by grace, and in heaven He will reign over them in glory. See what I have said on the kingdom of Christ, Matt. xxvii.11.
Douay-Rheims : 1582 text
26. And in the ſixt month , the Angel Gabriel was ſent or God into a citie of Galilee, called Nazareth,27. to a Virgin eſpouſed to a man whoſe name was Ioſeph, of the houſe of Dauid; and the Virgins name was MARIE.28. And the Angel being entred in, ſaid vnto hcr: Haile ful of grace, our Lord is with thee : Bleſſed art thou among women.29. Who hauing heard, was troubled at his ſaying, and thought what manner of ſalutation this ſhould be.30. And the Angel ſaid to her: Feare not Mary, for thou haſt found grace with God.31. Behold thou ſhalt conceaue in thy womb, and ſhalt beare a Sonne; and thou ſhalt cal his name IESUS.32. He ſhal be great , and ſhal be called the Sonne of the moſt High, and our Lord God ſhal giue him the ſeat of David his Father:33. and he ſhal reigne in the houſe of Iacob for euer , and of his Kingdom there ſhal be no end.
28. Haile ful of grace. Holv Church and al true Chriſtian men doe much and often vſe theſe wordes brought from Heauen by the Archangel, as wel to the honour of Chriſt and our B. Ladie, as alſo for that they were the wordes of the firſt glad tidings of Christs Incarnation & our Saluation by the ſame; and be the very abridgement and ſ........ of the whole Ghoſpel. In ſo much that the Greeke Church vsed it daily in the Maſſe.
28. Haile ful of grace. Note the excellent prerogatiues of our B. Lady,and abhorre thoſe Heretikes which make her no better than other vulgar womcn, and therfore to take from her fulnes of grace,they ſay here Hail freely beloved contrarie to al ſignification of the Greeke word, which is at the leaſt, endued with grace, as S. Paul vſeth it Epheſ. i.by S, Chryſoſtoms interpretation: or rather ful of grace, as both Greek and Latin Fathers haue alwaies here vnderstood it, and the Latines alſo read it, namely S. Ambrose thus, wel is ſhe only called ful of grace who only obtained the grace, which no other woman deſerved, to be replenished with the author of grace. And if they did as wel know the nature of theſe kind of Greeke words, as they would ſeeme very ſkilful, they might eaſily obſerve that they ſignifie ſulnes, as when them ſelves tranſlate the like word (Luc. 16.10)
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SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.
The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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